An awesome four minute animated video about the possibilities afforded by mobile technology in the not so distant future. The smartphone/iPad revolution has many more productivity and quality of life gains to provide before it’s all said and done, especially now that people are getting excited by possible monetary gains in the tech world again.

Although Google’s self-driving car was really cool, this idea seems to have a lot more promise as a realistic application of self-driving cars. Combining the concept of trains with driving could allow for a better driving experience, optimized speeds to conserve fuel, while improving the quality of life for people with long commutes. Too many people are wasting hours of their weeks in a car doing things computers could do for them. We’re not all going to have access to high speed trains anytime soon, so ideas like this based more in economic realities are going to be essential.

This piece by James Fallows is an inspiring call to action for all Americans in an age when there is far too much pessimism about the long-term prospects for the American economy floating around in popular media than is truly warranted.

The Chinese government quickly backtracked from this prize after it became clear the whole thing was a major debacle, but it’s incredible how the Chinese often cope with uncomfortable realities in the information age by creating a parallel universe that suits their needs.